Theatre Simpson will showcase its senior-led and student-designed Festival of Short Plays this weekend. The show will feature four short plays with this year’s theme, “Theatre of Politics and Protest.”

Junior Cierra Clark, an elementary education major with a theatre minor, is part of the first show in the lineup. She plays LuLu in “Existence,” which is an absurdist piece. Absurdist plays highlight the human struggle and existence.

Clark said this was one of the lighter pieces in the show but still had deep overtones. “It’s going to make you think deeper,” she said.

Sophomore Morgan King, a theatre major and education minor, also spoke about the layers to the short plays.

“All of the different topics vary to marriage issues, gun violence, depression and anxiety and even depictions we have of different countries. All of those get brought up in the plays, and it makes the audience think a little bit,” King said.

King plays Laura in the fourth and final play of the evening called “Hurt.”

She said everyone in Theatre Simpson has been working hard with a quick turn around from the previous production “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

“Over the past three weeks, we’ve been blocking, memorizing, working on these plays, and with how heavy some of the content can be, it kind of has been emotionally draining as well. But it’s going to be worth it once we’ve performed,” King said.

Cassie Sand, a freshman accounting and theatre double major plays Kim in “The Cowboy,” which she says is a Greek tragedy.

“There’s a lot of plot twists and deeper meaning behind different scenes,” Sand said.

Sand said she was only able to give this teaser about the play, “When you ride with the cowboy, anything can happen.”

Each student said there is something for everyone and encouraged their fellow students to see the show.

Tickets for this event are free for Simpson students and faculty and are available at the Simpson College Box Office. 

The show runs Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. Doors open half an hour before each show, and there is no late seating.